Early life

Osment was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Theresa (née Seifert), a teacher, and Michael Eugene Osment, a theater and film actor, both natives of Birmingham, Alabama. Osment was raised Roman Catholic. He has one sibling, a sister, actress Emily Osment, who is almost four years his junior. Osment's parents have described his childhood as a “good old-fashioned Southern upbringing”. His father said that when Osment was learning to speak, he deliberately avoided using baby talk when communicating with his son.

Osment was a student at Flintridge Preparatory School in La Cañada, California. As a child, he wrestled and played basketball, football, and golf.

Career

Osment's acting career began at the age of four, when his mother took him to a new Ikea store and they encountered a talent scout looking for new actors. Osment put his name down and got called back for an audition. Asked to describe the biggest thing he had ever seen, Osment described an IMAX theater screen and won the part in a Pizza Hut TV commercial, advertising their "Big Foot" pizza. The commercial launched his career, and later that year he starred in the ABC TV sitcom Thunder Alley, his first role in series television. His first feature film role was as Forrest Gump's son, also named Forrest Gump, in the 1994 film of the same name. He also had a small part in another 1994 film, Mixed Nuts. Throughout the rest of the 1990s, Osment played regular or recurring roles in various TV series; including The Jeff Foxworthy Show and the final season of Murphy Brown, where he replaced Dyllan Christopher as Murphy's son, Avery.

In addition, he made numerous guest appearances on shows, including The Larry Sanders Show, Walker, Texas Ranger, Touched by an Angel, Chicago Hope, The Pretender, and Ally McBeal. He appeared in the 1996 film Bogus, alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Gérard Depardieu and the 1998 made-for-TV movie The Lake, as well as I'll Remember April (1999), with future The Sixth Sense co-star Trevor Morgan.

Osment first achieved stardom in 1999, when he appeared in The Sixth Sense, co-starring Bruce Willis. For his portrayal of Cole Sear, a psychic child, Osment won the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor. He was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, becoming the second-youngest performer ever to receive an Academy nomination for a supporting role, but lost the final Oscar vote to Michael Caine (with whom he would later work, appearing together in Secondhand Lions). One of Osment's lines in The Sixth Sense, "I see dead people," became a popular catchphrase and is often repeated or parodied on television programs and in other media. The phrase is #44 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Movie Quotes. He made three minor (voice-only) guest appearances on the animated TV series Family Guy in 2000 and 2001.

The 2000 Academy Awards ceremony honored another future co-star, Kevin Spacey, who, along with Helen Hunt, appeared in Osment's next film, Pay It Forward (2000). The following year, he appeared in Steven Spielberg's Artificial Intelligence: A.I., cementing his stature as one of the leading young actors in Hollywood. This role earned him his second Saturn Award for Best Younger Actor, and another critical acclaim. In reviewing the movie, critic Roger Ebert claimed that: "Osment, who is onscreen in almost every scene, is one of the best actors now working". In 2001, Osment starred in the Polish film, Edges of the Lord, as Romek. The movie was never released theatrically in the United States. Between 2002 and 2003, Osment lent his voice to films such as The Country Bears, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II and The Jungle Book 2, all from Walt Disney Pictures. He returned to live action with the 2003 film, Secondhand Lions.

Osment lent his voice to the video game series Kingdom Hearts, providing the voice of Sora, the series' main character, and also Vanitas, a villain resembling Sora. Osment also voiced the character of Takeshi Jin in the English version of the Immortal Grand Prix anime TV series.

He appeared in Home of the Giants, playing a high school journalist opposite Ryan Merriman and Danielle Panabaker. He subsequently worked on Montana Amazon as both an actor and executive producer. The film starred Olympia Dukakis and debuted at the Orlando and Big Apple Film Festivals in November 2010, winning Best Feature Film at the latter.

Osment made his Broadway debut at the Belasco Theatre in November 2008 playing the role of "Bobby", a young heroin addict, in a revival of David Mamet's American Buffalo; co-starring with John Leguizamo and Cedric the Entertainer. The show opened to mixed reviews, and a provisional statement was made on November 20, 2008, that it would close after the first week.

In 2010, Osment signed for a leading role in the comedy film Sex Ed from MPCA, to play a college graduate who wants to teach geometry, but ends up as a sex education teacher while inexperienced himself. In January 2011, Entertainment Weekly reported that Osment had joined the cast of Sassy Pants, a comedy about a homeschooler with an over-bearing mother.

Variety reported on June 27, 2011 that Osment would star in Wake the Dead, a modern-day retelling of the Frankenstein story, with production to begin the last quarter of 2011. As of mid-2014, no published status was available.

In 2013, he appeared in a series of episodes of Amazon's Alpha House. He also co-starred in the Will Ferrell and Adam McKay-produced comedy melodrama miniseries The Spoils of Babylon and The Spoils Before Dying for IFC. Kevin Smith has further added to Osment's career resurgence with roles in the first two films of his True North Trilogy, first as Teddy Craft in Tusk and next as a fictionalized version of Canadian Fuhrer Adrien Arcand in Yoga Hosers.

Personal life

Osment is an avid golfer who began playing at the age of 7. He played for the U.S. team in the All Star Cup 2005, under team leader Mark O'Meara, and has participated in the Annual Michael Douglas & Friends Celebrity Golf Tournament.

Osment was involved in a single-driver automobile accident on July 20, 2006; he struck a brick mailbox and overturned his car while driving near his home. He suffered injuries including a broken rib, fractured shoulder blade, cuts, and abrasions. Osment pleaded no contest to one count each of misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol and misdemeanor drug possession on October 19, 2006. He was sentenced to three years probation, 60 hours in an alcohol rehabilitation and education program, a fine of $1500, and a minimum requirement of 26 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings over a six-month period.

Osment plays the guitar and piano. He graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2011.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Forrest Gump	Forrest Gump, Jr.	Young Artist Award for Best Performance by an Actor Under Ten in a Motion Picture
1995	Mixed Nuts	Little Boy
1995	For Better or Worse	Danny
1996	Bogus	Albert Franklin	Nominated - Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Actor Age Ten or Under
1997	Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas	Chip (voice)	Direct-to-video
1999	The Sixth Sense	Cole Sear	Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor - Newcomer (Internet Only) Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Performer Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Youth in Film Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Most Promising Actor MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Satellite Award for Outstanding New Talent Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Teen Choice Award for Film - Choice Breakout Performance Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor YoungStar Award for Best Young Actor/Performance in a Motion Picture Drama Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actor Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Debut Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
1999	I'll Remember April	Peewee Clayton
2000	Pay It Forward	Trevor McKinney	Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor - Drama/Romance Nominated - Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor
2000	Spot the Dog	Spot the Dog (voice)	Direct-to-video
2001	A.I. Artificial Intelligence	David	Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor Nominated - Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Performer Nominated - Empire Award for Best Actor Nominated - Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Youth Performance Nominated - Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor
2001	Edges of the Lord	Romek
2002	The Hunchback of Notre Dame II	Zephyr (voice)	Direct-to-video Nominated - Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role
2002	The Country Bears	Beary Barrington (voice)
2003	Secondhand Lions	Walter Caldwell	Critics Choice Award - Best Young Actor in Drama Nominated - Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor Nominated - Tony Award - Best Rising Star Nominated - Saturn Award - Best Supporting Dramatic Actor
2003	The Jungle Book 2	Mowgli (voice)	Nominated - World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Song Written for a Film Nominated - Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role - Young Actor
2007	Home of the Giants	Robert "Gar" Gartland
2010	Montana Amazon	Womple Dunderhead	Also executive producer
2012	Sassy Pants	Chip Hardy
2013	I'll Follow You Down	Erol	released as Continuum outside North America
2014	Tusk	Teddy Craft
2014	Sex Ed	Ed Cole
2015	The World Made Straight	Shank
2015	Entourage	Travis McCredle
2016	Me Him Her	Haley
2016	Yoga Hosers	Adrien Arcand	Post-production
2016	Holding Patterns	Ben	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	The Larry Sanders Show	Little Boy	Episode: "The Fourteenth Floor"
1994	Lies of the Heart: The Story of Laurie Kellogg	Kyle	Television film
1994-1995	Thunder Alley	Harry Turner	27 episodes
1995-1997	The Jeff Foxworthy Show	Matt Foxworthy	35 episodes
1997	Walker, Texas Ranger	Lucas Simms	2 episodes
1997	Last Stand at Saber River	Davis Cable	Television film
1997-1998	Murphy Brown	Avery Brown #2	6 episodes
1998	Chicago Hope	Nathan Cacaci	Episode: "Memento Mori"
1998	Touched by an Angel	John Henry	Episode: "Flights of Angels"
1998	The Pretender	Davey Simpkins	2 episodes
1998	The Lake	Dylan Hydecker	Television film
1998	Ransom of Red Chief	Andy Dorset	Television film
1998	Cab to Canada	Bobby	Television film
1999	Ally McBeal	Eric Stall	Episode: "Angels and Blimps"
2000	Buzz Lightyear of Star Command	Myka (voice)	Episode: "Lone Wolf"
2000-2001	Family Guy	Various voices	3 episodes
2005	Immortal Grand Prix	Takeshi Jin (voice)	26 episodes English version
2013-2014	Alpha House	Shelby	12 episodes
2014	The Spoils of Babylon	Winston	3 episodes
2015	The Spoils Before Dying	Alistair St. Barnaby-Bixby-Jones	5 episodes
2015	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Slow Joey	3 episodes
2015	Drunk History	Kid Blink	Episode: "Journalism"

Video games

Year	Title	Role
2002	Kingdom Hearts	Sora (voice)
2006	Kingdom Hearts II	Sora (voice)
2008	Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories	Sora (voice)
2009	Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days	Sora (voice)
2010	Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep	Vanitas / Sora (voices)
2011	Kingdom Hearts coded	Sora (voice)
2012	Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance	Sora / Vanitas (voices)
2013	Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix	Sora (voice)
2014	Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix	Sora / Vanitas (voices)
2016	Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue	Sora / Vanitas (voices)

Charities

Haley Joel Osment supports the following charitable cause: Children.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]